Over 46 lakh voters clear SIR scrutiny, lakhs more await verification | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: Nearly half of the 92.88 lakh Telangana voters flagged during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process have now cleared verification and are set to figure in the final electoral rolls, even as election authorities move into a crucial disposal phase for the remaining cases.The latest status released by the chief electoral officer (CEO) shows that 92.88 lakh notices have been generated. Of these, 88.52 lakh have been delivered, while 4.36 lakh are still pending delivery. Hearings have been conducted in 61.87 lakh cases, and 46.88 lakh electors have so far been found eligible for final publication.CEO C Sudharshan Reddy told TOI that voters can verify their status on the ECI website by downloading draft SIR rolls polling station-wise and searching for their name or EPIC number.This means 44 lakh electors from the original notice pool are yet to figure in the “eligible for final publication” category. However, this should not be interpreted as 44 lakh deletions. The figure includes notices yet to be delivered and cases that are at different stages of verification and disposal.Officials said a majority of such cases ultimately result in deletions due to non-response from electors. Sudharshan Reddy said, “We are requesting people to respond to the notice and submit the documents.”92.8 lakh anomaly and unmapped casesThe notice exercise covers two distinct categories identified during enumeration: 60.5 lakh electors with logical discrepancies and another 32.3 lakh whose entries could not be mapped to previous SIR rolls. Together, they account for around 92.8 lakh cases.These are separate from the 73.39 lakh absent, shifted, dead and duplicate entries that were left out of the Aug 17 draft rolls.BLOs to visit voters’ homesIn fresh instructions issued on Sept 28, Sudharshan Reddy directed officials not to routinely summon voters flagged under the no-mapping or logical discrepancy categories to the offices of electoral registration officers or assistant EROs.Instead, booth-level officers will visit electors at their homes, collect supporting documents, and upload them on ECI Net for a decision by the ERO. Hearings are to be held only in exceptional cases and, wherever possible, through online mode. If required, an adult family member may represent the elector.District election officers have also been instructed to open help desks and conduct special camps for vulnerable groups, including residents of night shelters, labourers, homeless persons and others who may face difficulties in completing the verification process.For electors who have not yet responded, the disposal phase is now crucial. Only those whose eligibility is established can be included in the final electoral rolls. Cases that remain unresolved will have to be processed under the prescribed SIR procedure and will not be treated as automatically deleted merely because a notice was issued.